Even if You Can't Remember
by Cescalia
Summary: After defeating Hawk Moth, Adrien and Marinette don't remember that they used to be Chat Noir and Ladybug. It doesn't mean they have forgotten.


Alya was sitting on the beige couch in the living room of the apartment she shared with Marinette. Her legs wrapped beneath her, she was writing vigorously on her laptop.

The only sound echoing through the apartment was the rattling of Alya's fingers clicking on the keyboard and occasional huffs of annoyance, when Marinette, sitting next to her, messed up the seam and had to loosen the stitching of the dress she was sewing.

Pressing enter, Alya let out a triumphant yell and clapped her hands together, beaming at the laptop screen.

"I did it!" Marinette smiled at her friend as the latter lifted the laptop and set it on the table in front of them.

"That's great, Alya! Do you think they will see it?"

"I hope so, Ladybug was certainly aware of my blog before, but I'm not sure if they will check it now, after Hawk Moth has been defeated," Alya started to come down from her momentary bliss, which resulted from publishing her gratitude for Parisian heroes and requesting them for an interview now, when things had finally settled down.

Hawk Moth had been defeated a week ago. The duo was worn out from the battle, but the satisfied and relieved looks on their faces said it all. They were extremely happy that the akuma attacks were finally over and the man behind Hawk Moth had been arrested for his crimes, his identity sealed until public court case could be opened.

Swarmed with reporters, everyone tried to get a word from Ladybug and Chat Noir, but they assured everyone that they would need time to recover from their wounds, before they could give any interviews and comments.

Unnoticeably to most, Chat had slipped his hand into Ladybug's and had given it a slight squeeze while looking at her as if he was seeing the sunshine. Ladybug had gently smiled back and with a brush on his arm, she had taken out her yoyo and swung it in unknown direction, supposedly to detransform.

After that small interaction, no one had seen the heroes. People were waiting in anticipation, wanting to hear details about the fight and what they planned to do now, when there was no immediate danger. Paris was not ready to let go of the ones who people would always be entirely grateful for.

"How can they not? Everyone wants an exclusive interview with Ladybug and Chat Noir, but I don't know anyone else as dedicated as you are. They would have to accept."

Marinette was truly happy for her friend. Chat Noir and Ladybug had been part of her daily life since collegè, always showing up whenever the akuma attacked. Surprisingly, almost all of her classmates had been akumatised at some point, except her and Adrien.

Marinette's heart instantly started beating faster when she thought about her crush, she hadn't gotten to forget him, because Adrien had twined himself around her life so firmly. She had stopped stuttering in his presence in high school, but now, living in the apartment with Alya and attending classes in the top fashion school, majoring in design, she still kept blushing at the slightest contact.

She knew she wasn't as into him as before and could actually cope with her emotions at times, but it was still difficult as she had been in love with him for years.

Adrien had become a part of their friend group gradually and the times when Alya and Nino were tangled up in their own business, they became closer.

"No one has seen them after the defeat. It's as if they have just disappeared," Alya was confused. It had been a week, surely it must have been a suitable amount of time for them to patch up the last remains of evil.

"Nonsense, they have their civilian lives as well. I'm positive, they want to address all the questions the public has to clear things up."

"Yeah, you're right. I wonder if Chat Noir and Ladybug will make their relationship official now when there is no danger. They have skirted around each other for so long, they must be feeling something for each other, right?"

"I guess, but it's their own choice, if they want to keep their status in private or not. They are not obligated to share their relationship with the whole public. We shouldn't pry them for answers they are not comfortable to give."

Alya gaped at her.

"Mari, just a week ago you were hundred percent sure that there was nothing romantic going on between them. You have always stood against me on that topic," Marinette frowned, "I can't believe it! You have finally come to your senses! Join the shippers!"

Marinette didn't even try denying, since it was pointless when Alya was involved. She grabbed Marinette in her arms and squeezed her tight against her chest, second later she was already jumping on the couch and giggling madly as Marinette looked at her oddly.

The last week she started being a bit doubtful of her memories, feeling as if huge chunks of her mind were missing, but she didn't think a lot of it and went back to work on her stitching.

"Okay, enough of this, let's go out, now!" Alya stood up and put her hands on her hips, disapprovingly staring at Marinette, who sighed and looked up while dropping the dress on her lap.

"No, Alya, I want to finish this dress tonight!"

"You have four days left, you're ahead of the schedule. You need to have fun once in a while and today you're coming with me to the club."

"With you and Nino, playing the third wheel again? Or do I have to become a mediator? Which state of the relationship are you in currently? The disgusting love affections or passive aggressive fighting? Because honestly, I don't want to be near neither of those."

"Adrien is back in town," Alya wiggled her eyebrows as Marinette froze in place, eyes growing wider. She had completely forgotten that he was coming back from New York today.

"I don't know. He must be tired of the trip and the flight."

"And you don't think he wouldn't want to see his _dearest_ friends after being apart for so long?"

It was tempting. Marinette bit her lip as she thought of the possibility of seeing Adrien again the same night. She knew that there would be no other decision. Groaning, she hoisted herself up from the couch and Alya squealed.

"It's settled then, I'll call them right away. Unless, you want to call _your_ _man_ yourself?" Giving Alya a dirty look, Marinette took the dress into her hands and went to her bedroom to start panicking over what she was going to wear in the evening.

* * *

"I told you million times already, you look smoking! Can we please get going now?" Alya whined as she was already halfway out of the door, the keys that she later dropped into Marinette's bag, so she wouldn't have to carry them, dinging in her hands.

"Are you sure it's not too much?" Marinette turned back to the full-length mirror in the entry hall and pulled at the rim of her skirt that was too short for her liking. To believe Alya's words, it brought attention to her toned legs, and the ankle boots complemented her outfit.

Alya sighed and dragged Marinette to the hallway, her wavy hair brushing her shoulders in process, so she could lock up the door behind them.

Few blocks away from their shared place was the club Alya insisted on checking out as it had gotten good reviews all over the social media and news outlets. As they arrived at the door of the club, few bouncers standing by, Alya got a call from Nino.

"It's right next to the The Musée d'Orsay, you can't miss the lights and the music echoing from inside," Alya said, clearly annoyed with her boyfriend's incompetence at following the orders.

"The museum is huge, how do you expect me to know which is the right side!" Nino's faint voice sounded from the cellphone.

"Do you know what century it is? We have internet and we have GPS!" Nino grumbled something unintelligible.

Alya sighed.

"Where are you?"

Marinette couldn't heard the answer Nino gave to her, but the displease reflecting on Alya's face as she turned towards Marinette with apologetic look told her all.

"Mari, I'm so sorry, I don't want to leave you here alone, but Nino is being an idiot. Adrien should arrive every minute, I'll try to hurry back before you faint in front of him," she said cheekily and took off towards the street corner.

At loss of what to do after Alya left, Marinette balanced her weight from one leg to the other, anxiously waiting for her to come back and praying that Adrien wouldn't show up when she was alone and vulnerable.

"Marinette?"

Hearing familiar voice behind her, Marinette turned around and almost lost her footing as she was greeted with Adrien's timid smile and dashing looks. Just her luck.

Marinette felt her whole face flush and she urged to cover up her bare shoulders and neck, she didn't want to be that exposed in front of him. Alya had generously helped her put together her outift as Marinette had been picking out too suave clothing to wear, which was no-go for a club night.

Adrien didn't seem to notice her hesitation and nervousness when he stepped closer and leaned forward, ignoring her astound appearance.

Taking a hold of her hand, eyes piercing and full of determination, he slowly raised it towards his mouth without breaking eye contact and pressed his lips softly against her knuckles.

Startled by the uncharacteristic attention from Adrien, her body gave an automatic response; she retracted her hand and pushed her index finger on Adrien's nose, prompting him to lean backwards.

She had no idea what had come over her and peering at Adrien, he looked as confused by his actions as her. _'What just happened?'_

They both noticed at the same time that they were still holding hands and therefore dropped them instantly. Marinette's neck and shoulders were flushed red, not to mention she could feel her face burning from heat. Adrien didn't look any better.

She will never wash that hand.

"You look pretty."

She was sure her heart stopped beating for a second. "Uhm.. thank you? You're amazing, wait, no, I mean, you look amazing, uh, you look good as w-well," Marinette rambled. What a great start.

Adrien's scratched the nape of his neck, eyes locked to the ground, avoiding looking at Marinette. He was embarrassed, because she seemed so uncomfortable.

Marinette truly looked astonishing, her neck and shoulders were exposed to the air, her black top covered only small parts of her arms, a black A-lined skirt's lining, if he wasn't wrong, flashed red through the sheer black tulle fabric on top of it.

Her hair was down. He didn't think he had ever seen her with that hairstyle as she always wore her hair in two pigtails mirroring Ladybug's appearance.

Every time his thoughts wondered to Ladybug, he felt warm inside and he knew he was harbouring intense crush on her, but he never seemed to recall when it had started. It was a strong emotion and that was all he needed to know.

Maybe that was why he acted that way towards Marinette, because she reminded him of Ladybug.

"H-how was New York?"

"Exhausting, had to wake up before 6am every day and most of the time couldn't get back to hotel until after midnight. I'm glad to be back," Adrien directed his affectionate smile towards Marinette as she twirled a piece of her hair between her fingers.

"I'm glad as well. Paris doesn't feel the same with only one of us present."

Adrien didn't take notice of the strange comment; on the contrary, his smile seemed to grow. Marinette had been wondering why her mouth had no filter in the last few days, she blurted out things which absolutely didn't make sense and she couldn't explain them.

"Sorry to interrupt you, lovebirds, but our time is limited, which means that we have to start drinking as soon as possible to enjoy the crappy music they are playing in the clubs. Also, welcome back, Adrien! I hope you didn't succeed in replacing us with some American models," Alya chattered endlessly, sheepishly smiling Nino linked to her arm.

"I believe you're irreplaceable." He was happy to be back with his friends, people who actually cared about him as a person.

"I know, baby, I'm worth it."

"Did you start drinking in the apartment already?" Nino questioned Alya.

"Nonsense, it's no fun to drink alone and the rare times Marinette joins me, tipsy Marinette wouldn't shut up about her prince, she's even more of a blabbermouth than she is sober, so I won't risk it."

"What prince? Wait, oh, does Marinette have a crush on someone?" Marinette silently cursed Alya. Oblivious Adrien had become much more attentive after being around them for so long and it really didn't work in her favour. She hoped that Adrien didn't catch on.

"Of course not, it's an imaginary crush, doesn't exist, Marinette has no crush on anyone, nope," Alya seized the opportunity to tease her, "Except Chat Noir, because for the last week she has been longingly staring at his pictures. Even I don't check my own blog that often."

"Alya! It was one time!" She didn't have a crush on Chat Noir! She liked Adrien and she was just curious about him and Ladybug disappearing after the defeat and how close they seemed to be and why she couldn't stop imagining his blinding smile directed towards her… Okay, for some reason, she might be a bit too drawn to him.

Marinette stole a glance towards Adrien who had narrowed his eyes slightly and seemed to be in deep thought as if trying to remember something he wanted to say.

"I'm just teasing, come on, let's go inside!"

The inside of the club was full of people with no room to move around. The lights were flashing fast in different colours that caused headaches in seconds. The bar table in the centre of the dance hall was surrounded by sweaty and cheerful customers buying cheap shots and cocktails.

Marinette wasn't a club person, in fact, she despised them, but Alya loved dancing, even if it was with drunken short men. She glanced at Adrien who seemed awfully uncomfortable and tense. The music was blasting through the speakers and that's why she couldn't hear exactly what Alya had yelled in her ear before dragging Nino to the bar table and leaving her alone with Adrien. Again.

It couldn't have been more awkward.

Fortunately, Alya arrived back quickly with the drinks and in a desperate hope to get herself loosened up, she shoved two of the drinks Alya and Nino brought back in a record speed. Of course she missed Alya mentioning that those were extremely strong drinks and she couldn't handle a lot of alcohol as she didn't drink often. Too bad.

In less than a half hour, she found herself in Adrien's arms, with almost no space between them, moving their hips to the rhythm of Latin American music mix.

She turned around, back against his front, and slid her body against his, tracing the lines with her fingertips. His hands stroked her bare arms as she lowered herself towards the ground and she could feel the goosebumps rising on her skin. She was sweating because of the heat and closeness to, desperately needing the fresh air.

Marinette grinded in the process of standing back up, against Adrien's torso, his groan barely audible over the loud thumping music. His palms moved along, one on either side of her and then gently ghosted over the crop top, toying with the hem of it.

He held them in place as he bent her in the rhythm of the song, swaying her hips in accordance to his. She could sense his hot breath on her neck, he was leaning towads her, bringing them even closer to each other than they were before. Marinette's heart was beating so fast, she couldn't think straight due to the alcohol in her system and the heat.

Turning her around, Adrien took a hold of her palm as the other hand stayed on her hip. He bent her back and she obliged, pressing her lower half against his, and she was certain he was to some extent aroused by her movements. Marinette wrapped one of her legs around his body as his fingers brushed the uncovered skin on her calf.

Marinette raised herself up with his help and dropped her leg from his hips. She noticed that there were only few inches between them. His eyes were clouded and pupils dilated, completely out of breath and turned on by her dancing and proximity. For few seconds she imagined different green eyes, half of the face covered by the black mask and that sight appeared oddly familiar.

She felt a strange pang in her heart at the thought of the superhero and somehow she knew that he had been important to her, though she couldn't remember why and how they had even met. The similarities between Adrien and Chat Noir made her pretend that she was there with him.

Bringing her hands up and cupping his cheeks, she brought Adrien's face closer. He didn't object. Moving one of his hands to her elbow and placing the other above hers on his cheek, he closed his eyes and leaned against their joined hands.

The song ended and during those few seconds between the song exchange, they had already dropped their hands, gasping for their breaths and staring at each other in wonder. They had been overcome by the sensations and forgot everything else, besides themselves.

She fled, leaving speechless and confused Adrien standing on the dance floor, hands still grasping for the empty air that had been embracing her just moments ago.

* * *

The phone shrilled for a fifth time already and after ringing for a full minute, the sound of the message coming through on phone echoed in the apartment.

Marinette tried to blindly reach for the phone on the bedside table, but it fell on the floor. She groggily opened her eyes and picked up the phone that thankfully was unbroken to see the message that Alya had sent.

' _Marinette! Please pick up and let me know you're not dead. I left my keys in your bag and had to stay at Nino's.'_

Looking at the list of missed calls on her phone, almost all of them from Alya, few from Nino and one from Adrien, she pressed Alya's number and called her back.

"I'm alive," her voice sounded like it came from a chain smoker, so she coughed her throat clear.

"I was so worried, when did you leave and how did you get back to the apartment on your own?"

"I honestly have no clue. I don't remember much of it."

"Oh, Marinette, I shouldn't have left you alone. Adrien said you ran away and before he realised what had happened, you were already gone."

"Adrien?"

"Yeah, he said you got upset suddenly. We even came and rang the doorbell and knocked on the door since, you know, I left the keys in your bag. Nino actually tried to pick the lock, when you didn't answer your phone or the door. Thankfully, we saw that your light was on from outside, so we figured you arrived safely, but you should never worry us like that!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't think." Mortfication. What had she done? She didn't usually drink at all and she had never even been drunk. She had unnecessarily worried her friends and why had she even ran away? And Adrien had seen it.

"Okay, can I go home now and you'll open the door for me or will you pass out again?"

"I think I can manage to stay few hours awake," Marinette laughed.

"I'll see you in an hour then," said Alya and ended the call.

Looking down on herself, Marinette realised that she was still wearing her tights which seam was ripped from her thigh to her knee and there was a hole where her big toe peeped through. At night she had thrown a T-shirt over her bra, rest of her other clothes were scattered on the couch.

Finding her little black purse next to the clothes, she looked through her things to assure herself that nothing was missing as she didn't have any memory of leaving the club and getting to the apartment, during the time her things could have been stolen.

Nothing was misplaced, except there was a one chocolate chip cookie, its crumbs scattered at the bottom of the purse, which seemed really out of place. She shrugged at the abnormality and bit it. To her surprise, it still tasted good and hadn't hardened while being there for an unknown duration of time.

The hour passed quickly as Marinette cleaned up and made herself presentable before she was interrupted by the doorbell.

"You're on probation now," Marinette's smile vanished at the mercy of Alya's intense gaze, "No partying for you where they serve alcohol. I will personally become your guardian. Maybe then you won't be able to scare us like that."

"Alya..." Marinette whined as Alya rushed into the apartment, throwing her phone case on the couch next to Marinette's bag.

"No buts! Also, my clothes stink, I think I passed out before I reached the shower at Nino's and because I was freaking out in the morning, I have been dialling you since waking up."

At Marinette's despondent face, Alya sighed and patted the couch inviting Marinette to sit next to her.

"Are you certain you don't remember anything? Why did you even gulp down our drinks, they weren't cheap you know, if you wanted one, why didn't you just ask?"

"Uhm, I didn't plan on drinking at first."

"So, why did you? Oh! Was it because of Adrien? Because you're still not able to speak coherent sentences when he's around and thought alcohol would loosen your tongue? Wait? Was that why Adrien suddenly blushed when we asked why you ran away? Did something happen between you two?"

Marinette bit her lips and looked down.

"I would want to thank not only myself, but the whole world for finally fulfilling my dream. Miracle has happened!"

"Alya, I already told you, I'm not sure what happened."

"That is such a bummer, you know. You finally get to kiss your crush and you don't even remember it. This is some serious shit, we need a repeat."

"I-I don't think we kissed. I would remember it. But at the same time, Chat Noir didn't remember when I kissed him, so maybe I really wouldn't know if it occurred. Alya, what is wrong? What's with that face?"

"YOU KISSED CHAT NOIR?"

"WHAT?"

"OH MY GOOOD! WHEN? HOW? WHY? WHAT ABOUT LADYBUG? YOU KNOW I WAS JUST TEASING ABOUT YOUR CRUSH! DID IT HAPPEN BEFORE THEIR DISAPPEARANCE-"

„What! Calm down, Alya, I've never kissed Chat Noir!"

"You just said you have!"

"No, I didn't!"

"I'm completely sure you did."

"This is insane, I haven't even talked to him except the few times he saved me from the akuma and when I helped him when we were still in collége by the way."

"Why would you say that then, you nearly gave me another heart attack in less than twenty-four hours!"

"I-I don't know, I guess it was a slip of a tongue. Maybe I saw it in a dream?" Marinette offered weakly, but for some reason she knew that wasn't the whole truth.

"You're hopeless."

She just shyly smiled in response.

* * *

On a rare day off that was given to Adrien to rest after the flight and exhausting work week, he chose to invite Nino over to play some video games.

After a short argument if they should play Ultimate Mecha Strike IV again or play something else, they chose the former. Adrien won the first round, but Nino, who had practised his skills, won the next two rounds. As they decided to take a break, Nino needed to go to bathroom and Adrien was looking for snacks in the room. His fridge was empty except an enormous pile of cheese he didn't particularly like.

"Is that...Camembert? ...Adrien, why are you eating cheese?" Nino didn't even want to sit down on the couch next to Adrien who was munching on a small wheel, making a disgusted face every time he took a bite.

"Someone has to!"

"It stinks! I can smell it from two metres away!"

"When you're eating, you can't smell it well." Nino backed away in disgust. "Where did you even find it? It seems as if it is expired."

"I found it. My whole fridge is full of them."

"Oh no, did you deliriously shop online again?"

He narrowed his eyes on Nino accusingly. No need to bring up his embarrassing habits.

"Seriously, dude, don't feel like you have to eat it all, now that you feel guilty of ordering that much."

Adrien put the cheese wheel on the table next to couch and picked up the console again. Right as they started the next round of the game, his console stopped working and the buttons did not function. By default Nino's robot rammed Adrien's into pieces and he had won again.

Customarily, he held up his fist up for Nino to bump and Nino's much larger fist tapped his.

"Bien joue!" They both said, mimicking Ladybug and Chat Noir's catch phrase, when Adrien suddenly felt a lump in his throat and nostalgic longing for something he didn't have anymore. Only he wasn't sure what it was.

As Adrien knew he had spare batteries in the drawer on his desk, he opened the first one and instead of battery pack he found a small black journal with a tiny ladybug imprinted on it. It was important, he was sure of it. His fingers were itching to grab it now, as he had no idea what it would contain or when he got it.

In a second drawer he found the batteries and put them in the console.

"Marinette is okay, if you were wondering. Alya went back to her place." He had already forgotten he had gone out the night before and he had danced with and almost kissed Marinette, which was perplexing since he had never had that kind of feelings towards her. Only Ladybug.

Ladybug. Everything seemed to remind him of her.

"That's good." Nino tilted his head at him narrowing his eyes suspiciously. Adrien felt sick to his stomach and anxious, he knew he was missing something and it had something to do with superheroes and why they were missing. For some reason, he couldn't remember and it was alarming.

"Okay, okay. We throw away the cheese," Nino took the cheese wheel and walked towards the fridge, opening the door and taking the other wheels out.

"Nino! No, what are you doing? You can't just throw food away!"

"You were fine before eating it and now you're as pale as a ghost and in certain light your face might even look green. We're throwing it away."

"NO!" Adrien grabbed a hold of Nino's wrist forcefully and Nino froze in place, nibbled cheese wheel still in his hand.

The cheese was important. He had to investigate why he had it, check all of the webpages and find the order receipt. The cheese was evidence.

Nino slowly put the cheese back on the table.

"I think you need some rest. You just came back from overseas, you had an exhausting work week and last night could have affected your health too. Now, that disgusting cheese gave you food poisoning." Adrien was not going to argue. Yes, work had been challenging and he was tired all the time, but these were not his main worries. He couldn't take his mind off the journal in his drawer.

"Call me, when you need anything, okay? And throw away the cheese; it's in your best interest."

Adrien didn't want Nino to leave, but he did feel slightly unwell and of course, there was the mysterious journal. When Nino had already left, Adrien walked back to the drawer and took out the journal. He opened it and discovered it was blank.

* * *

Marinette couldn't sleep. The air inside was stuffy and opened window only brought in the smell of gasoline and dust, not any fresh air. She wasn't used to getting to bed that early, but she didn't want to continue with the dress either. She knew she was supposed to be doing something else.

Pushing away the blanket, Marinette walked towards the tiny balcony the apartment had, from which she could see some of the roofs, but it was not as magnificent view as it was from her parents' place. She couldn't get on the roof as easily either, the edge was too far for her to step on.

She had to get out. The Eiffel Tower was not that far from the place, which she was extremely lucky to get due to her recommendations and her and Alya's reputation. The Tower always felt like a second home.

Slipping on the pink ballerinas that still fit her after all these years, and a black Chat Noir themed hoodie that she impulsively bought in the mall few years ago and which held her warm, she locked the door of the apartment and left to walk towards the Eiffel Tower.

The streets were lit up, so she wasn't worried. She even sent a quick text to Alya to say that she went out, in case she started worrying again when she came back to apartment. The restaurants and some of the tiny supermarkets were still opened beside the street swarmed with locals and adventurous tourists. The life in Paris was much more carefree after Hawk Moth was arrested.

Arriving to the Tower, she noticed a familiar person sitting nearby on the grass, holding something small and black in his lap.

"Hi!" Adrien looked up and smiled in recognition.

"Can I, can I sit?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course." Marinette's heart was beating fast, but Adrien was his friend and she was curious why he had had the same plan to go on a nightly walk to the Eiffel Tower as she had had. But Adrien seemed far away in his thoughts and she thought it was not her place to ask why he was there. After all, she didn't know why she was there either. So, she asked about something else.

"What is this?" Adrien turned to her and saw her pointing at the journal in his hand.

"Oh, I'm not sure, I found it today. There's nothing in it." He seemed to be thinking over something. "But there was this." He held a single post-it note out for her and she carefully took it and read.

"'22h00 Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday'." She read out loud, confused by the message.

"I think I was supposed to meet someone. I don't know who, so I decided to come and see. As this is the most significant landmark, I figured it could have taken place here."

"You… don't have any idea who it could be?"

"I have an idea. But it's stupid."

"I'm sure it's not."

Adrien looked at her warily, making a decision on the spot if he can trust Marinette on this. For some reason, he knew she could be trusted with this secret.

"It might have been Ladybug." Adrien showed the other side of the journal, which was entirely black aside from the small ladybug. Marinette startled and tried to figure out why Adrien could have been meeting Ladybug.

"That note was stuck on it. I don't remember ever meeting her outside of the attacks. I don't remember much of her at all. There are things that don't make sense and I can't remember. I can't!" To her surprise, he started crying.

She was instantly concerned and without hesitation she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, letting him silently cry into her hoodie. Her awkward feelings could be put aside, she was worried about him.

"You're not alone. I don't remember many things as well," Marinette felt safe to confess her secret as well, "Hours, even days, completely wiped out of my memory."

"Marinette… where were you when Hawk Moth was defeated?" He asked the question carefully, afraid of what the answer could be.

"I don't know." It was the truth. She thought she might have been in her apartment or in store, but it didn't seem right. She had a distinct memory of her body feeling sore that day.

"Me neither."

"Do you think, it's a possibility, we could have been there?"

Marinette didn't answer. It could have been that she had been there with the superheroes and then after the battle not being able to remember anything. It wasn't that far-fetched idea, as she had helped Chat few times. Even Adrien had helped Ladybug when they were younger.

"Maybe our memory was affected by Miraculous Cure? You know, like akuma victims don't remember what they did during the possession. Oh no, what if, what if we were akumatised and we don't remember it? What if-"

"Adrien, stop. We were not akumatised nor possessed!"

"This is exactly how it has been before, the victims don't remember!"

"It doesn't explain the extent of memory loss. It explains only one night, not years."

Adrien calmed down. It was irrational thought process.

Suddenly, Marinette had an idea. "We can go to that exclusive interview Alya asked Ladybug and Chat Noir to do! They were always partial to her, I'm confident they will be there."

Adrien remembered seeing the notice on Ladyblog during his research in afternoon. Nobody had been able to reach the superheroes otherwise, so that could have been their best shot.

"They haven't been seen for a week. What if something happened?"

"Their suits protect them from serious harm, I think they just need time to figure some things out and what to say to the public."

"How do you know about that?"

"Know what?"

"About the kwami magic."

"What magic? What's a Quami?"

Adrien shut his mouth and stared at Marinette in bewilderment. Marinette was just as confused. In a moment, he took out his phone and began to search. The video was saved in his bookmarks. He pressed play and showed it to Marinette, who leaned closer to see.

"It's the interview from that night. After Hawk Moth." Adrien nodded and looked closer to the heroes' body language.

"Why are you showing me this?" Marinette was analysing Ladybug's and Chat's movements as well, afraid, she might miss something important.

"He's in love with her," she said quietly and her throat suddenly became dry and there was a painful pang in her heart.

"Yeah and she loves him, too." Marinette's eyes were watering and her emotions were all over the place. There was nothing extraordinary about the video. Nothing to imply that reasons for their disappearance were anything but simple.

It hadn't been a confession, but it felt like it. She no longer held onto him, but he was still close. Without question, she reached out and took his hand in hers. He didn't retract. The video had ended, so he turned off his phone screen and looked towards her.

Maybe you had to lose each other in order to find each other again.


End file.
